Online sports betting is now live in Michigan!
We wrote earlier in the week about the impending launch of nine sportsbooks in the state of Michigan to allow online and mobile sports betting. One more was added to the list to make it a nice, round number of 10 to begin taking bets on their websites and mobile apps on Friday January 22.
This is a huge day for sports betting in the US. Michigan is a big territory for sports betting and the Detroit metro area is one of the bigger ones in the country. There are going to be a lot of dollars with a lot of diehard sports fans in the state and all operators will be looking for as big of a piece of the pie as possible.
With 10 sportsbooks live in Michigan, eight of which with online casino gaming as well, it will be extremely interesting to see the early returns from the January revenue figures and also to see what February holds with the Super Bowl and the first full month of online and mobile betting.
The 10 operators that launched on Friday are:
Barstool (Greektown)
BetMGM (MGM Grand Detroit)
BetRivers (Little River)
DraftKings (Bay Mills)
FanDuel (Motor City)
Golden Nugget (Ojibwa)
PointsBet (Northern Waters)
TwinSpires (formerly BetAmerica) (Island)
William Hill (Leelanau Sands)
WynnBet (Kewadin)
Those are a lot of familiar names and virtually all of the heavy hitters in the business. Online and mobile betting is so important to Michigan for a variety of reasons. One of the primary ones is that it makes it very convenient for users from all over the state to place their sports bets. A lot of the sportsbooks have partnered with tribal casinos in the northern part of Michigan and even some in the Upper Peninsula. If Michigan did not allow for online and mobile betting, large swaths of the population in places like Detroit and Grand Rapids would be very limited.
Instead, with Remote Registration and the ability to place bets with any sportsbook from anywhere in the state, it is a truly open market and one that will be extremely competitive. That means great offers, bonuses, promotions, and all sorts of different perks and advantages for interested bettors.
The state’s three commercial casinos in Detroit are MotorCity Casino (FanDuel), Greektown (Barstool), and MGM Grand Detroit (BetMGM). The other operators that wanted a piece of the action had to partner with tribal casinos. It was clear when those partnerships started to come together that online and mobile betting in Michigan was right around the corner.
COVID-19 delays and some other infrastructural concerns slowed down the process, as Michigan started taking retail wagers in March, but now everybody in the state has easy access to betting and today is truly a special day for the state and its residents.
We’ve got sportsbook reviews of just about all of the major players in Michigan and will be keeping an eye on the state to see if any more are added as we go forward.
Congratulations, Michigan! Welcome to the wonderful world of online and mobile sports betting!
